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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Fr. John during Elevation in today's 9:30 A.M. Mass for the First Sunday of Advent

Fr. Perrone in talking about the First Sunday of Advent in his Sunday column, had this to say:

Today, the 30th of November, would be the feast of Saint Andrew, apostle of Christ, were it not for this feast falling on a Sunday this year. In the hand missal I had since my boyhood, this day marked the turning point of the calendar of the saints and it appeared at the very top of the section of saints’ day Masses. This year it is especially prominent as a moment of passage since it coincides with that other cycle of the Church, the liturgical cycle, in the beginning of Advent.

A noted theologian has said that Saint Andrew is the Apostle of the Cross. You will no doubt remember that he is depicted as being crucified on a cross in the form of an X. So, no matter whether this feast comes at the end of the Church cycle (as it does some years) or at the beginning (as this year), it is the reminder of the cross that counts. From an old account of his martyrdom we find this: When Aegeas (his judge) ordered Andrew to be hoisted on a cross, to die like Christ, Andrew cried out, ‘O good cross, made beautiful by the body of my Lord! So long desired, now at last made ready for my soul to enjoy.’ He was fastened to the cross on which he hung alive for two days, preaching without cessation the faith of Christ all the while, after which time he passed on to Him whose death he had so coveted.” The Advent connection with St. Andrew lies in this: he longed for and found the Messiah, discovering him along with his brother, St. Peter. Advent then is the season of longing for Christ and Andrew well represents this desire.

Advent has a double aspect about it: the backward glance to the time before Christ, when He was the long-desired One, and that forward looking for His return to earth as its glorious Judge. Both events have a quasi-political ring to them which perhaps makes this year’s Advent have special significance.

We are living in an age of anxiety. Uncertainty, unrest, fears, apprehension over many things: the Church in her leadership; the government’s overweening controls of more and more of our lives with the corresponding loss of personal control and freedom; worries about the security of our freedoms of speech and of the free exercise of the Christian faith; the security of our money; political tensions here and unrest in the global scene; radical Islam, etc. Of this much we must be certain: Christ is the one Lord and God for all people and of all times ever since His first coming. He is sovereign. All things refer to Him and He is in absolute control of all things.

Our utter dependance on Him, our absolute trust in Him is essential, now and for all times. Certainly, He gives freedom for men to cooperate with His will, or to oppose it; hence the consequences which befall us on account of our sins. The whole Church, and all humanity too, should cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus,” (an ancient prayer of the Church). This prayer is not so much a plea to hasten His second coming (though it is that) as it is for Him to be present now to make us saintly, Godfearing people. Were we saints, we would have no fear. But because we have been wicked people generally speaking, we do have cause for apprehension. Advent then ought to be a serious cry to Jesus for help, to be with us, His Church militant, in this time of disquiet in the world.

The Archdiocese of Detroit has banned a support group for Catholic families with gay members from using a Detroit parish for a Saturday meeting because the scheduled speaker represents a pro-gay rights ministry censured by the Vatican.

This part is true. In fact, to the reporters credit, she later mentions a 1999 censuring of the founders of New Ways Ministry, the organization whom the speaker, Francis DeBernardo, represents. I'll offer a little more background here. This organization was founded by Sr. Jeanne Grammick, SSND and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS - two individuals who were the subject of a notification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the pontificate of Saint Pope John Paul II over what they taught, and neglected to teach, in their ministry to people with same sex attraction (SSA). The end of that document states (emphasis mine in bold):

Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have often stated that they seek, in keeping with the Church's teaching, to treat homosexual persons “with respect, compassion and sensitivity”. However, the promotion of errors and ambiguities is not consistent with a Christian attitude of true respect and compassion: persons who are struggling with homosexuality no less than any others have the right to receive the authentic teaching of the Church from those who minister to them. The ambiguities and errors of the approach of Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the Church. For these reasons, Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS, are permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons and are ineligible, for an undetermined period, for any office in their respective religious institutes.

No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice. Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination. Accordingly, I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.

It comes a month after Catholic bishops publicly feuded at a Vatican meeting over Pope Francis' more welcoming words and outreach to gay Catholics and their families.

I don't recall Pope Francis saying anything of this sort at the recent Synod, but many in the secular media and in the dissenting wing of the Church seem to know what he thinks. As Robert Royal, who was in Rome covering the Synod, recently wrote at The Catholic Thing:

"The pope’s own views have been impossible to detect – though many reporters pressed – because he said nothing at all this week. Presumably, he does desire some pastoral developments. He did invite, after all, Cardinal Kasper to give the keynote at the February consistory that got that whole controversy going. But to identify him with the most radical language in some garbled documents does him an injustice."

I want to return to that word, "welcoming," used by Montemurri, which has become popular today. In a nutshell, it is ambiguous and that is what some like. "Welcoming," in what way? Should people be welcomed in a way that acknowledges the SSA and supports them in living out their lives in harmony with God's ways; or, should they be welcomed in a way that affirms, or seems to affirm, people in behaviors that are objectively grave in their sinfulness? It's hard to pin-point what people mean by "welcoming." The latter lacks mercy in that it considers only the temporal without regard for eternal salvation. I really hope the bishops will define what it means to be "welcoming" in the 2015 Synod, if that word has to be used at all, knowing how it is exploited.

This is probably one of the greatest misunderstandings people have today. The world believes God wants us to be happy, even unto stretching the truth in ways that puts our eternal salvation at risk. Everything is interpreted through the lens of the "here and now" while disregarding the lens of eternity. Jesus Himself would not be considered "welcoming" today by telling followers as he did: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Mt 7:13-14) This conflicts with the gospel of comfort, which avoids any reflection on what it means to take up our crosses daily.

The Free Press report continues:

Joe Kohn, a spokesman for Archbishop Vigneron, said New Ways Ministryis not an approved organization to address Catholic teachings on homosexuality.
"It was brought to the archdiocese's attention a few weeks back that New Ways Ministry had been scheduled to speak at Christ the King Church," Kohn said in a statement. "Because New Ways Ministry had been identified as a group that might cause confusion in regards to Catholic church teaching, the archdiocese did clarify that a presentation by New Ways Ministry should not be hosted on church property."

And that's why the group hosting New Ways Ministry, moved the Saturday talk offsite. No further statement is really needed by Archbishop Vigneron or the Archdiocese of Detroit. Any time a bishop prohibits an event from happening on Church property, people need to act on prudence. Such action speaks volumes.

Patricia Montemurri, discussing the thoughts of the the man who was to speak at Christ the King Parish, writes:

New Ways' DeBernardo, who was in Rome attending gay rights events during the bishops' meeting, said the Detroit archdiocese's actions run counter to Pope Francis' more sympathetic posture toward gay Catholics.

First, "gay rights" is synonymous these days with affirming the lifestyle now casually referred to as, "gay." In Catholic circles where groups like New Ways Ministry is welcomed it is often code for affirming people in their sexual relations outside of sacramental marriage while making them feel it is okay to receive Communion.

Lets be clear: Someone with SSA is welcome to receive Holy Communion like any one else, if they are striving for chastity just like any heterosexual would strive for this. There are many single, heterosexual people, who desire marriage, but have not found a spouse. They are not free to engage in sexual relations outside of Sacramental Marriage and receive Holy Communion. Many do, but that's something our priests and bishops need to start addressing and maybe it would carry more weight when discussing homosexual relations. Homosexual inclinations are not sinful; acting on them is (CCC 2357-2359). People of either sexual orientation fall into sin and that is why there is Sacramental Confession, but this takes acknowledging a wrong and striving to, "go and sin no more." (Jn 8:11). As the saying goes, "the Catholic Church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners." But, we sinners have to want to live in a way that is faithful to God's Commandments. Contrary to low-information belief, Jesus did not, "do away," with the 10 Commandments.

What kind of parent gives wheat to a child with celiac disease, just to avoid the appearance of being mean, or not wanting the child to feel different from other children, or to be happy? Humans are not incapable of eating wheat gluten, but the bodies of some individuals react in a way that damages the colon. Eating wheat can eventually be deadly. In a like manner, a pastor or bishop who permits people to believe they can have sexual relations outside of Sacramental Marriage, or turn marriage into something other than the joining of one man and one woman, engages in false mercy. Personally, I think heterosexual cohabitation is one of the most neglected topics in the Church today.

The Rev. Victor Clore, pastor of Christ the King parish, said he was notified last week by an archdiocese official that the parish could not host the meeting. Clore said the archdiocese's position was discouraging.
"I'll give you a quote from one of my parishioners, who said: 'It amazes me how Pope Francis eagerly and happily engages those who openly deny the divinity of Christ, yet (New Ways) DeBernardo is deemed unworthy to enter our church,' " Clore stated.
"That's pretty much my feeling, too," said Clore. "It's treating people as if they were children."

Childlikeness is a virtue, especially when it comes to docility. Also, when children want to touch a hot stove they get told, "no." That is what Archbishop Vigneron is doing here and he would be guilty of omission if he did not do so. And, where is Pope Francis giving a platform to a speaker who openly denies the Divinity of Christ? It's a straw-man argument. It's one thing to meet with people and talk to them; it's quite another to give them a platform on Church property to spread error, or to say it is okay for them to receive Holy Communion while freely placing themselves in a state of grave sin.

Policies of Corporate Dissent. The Cardinal spoke of this issue in reference to letters the CDF received from “Leadership Teams” of various Congregations, among them LCWR Officers, protesting the Holy See’s actions regarding the question of women’s ordination and of a correct pastoral approach to ministry to homosexual persons, e.g. letters about New Ways Ministry’s conferences. The terms of the letters suggest that these sisters collectively take a position not in agreement with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality. It is a serious matter when these Leadership Teams are not providing effective leadership and example to their communities, but place themselves outside the Church’s teaching.

Karle-Nelson said she fears interested Catholics might be confused by the change of location. Last year's meeting drew about 40 participants, with some walk-ins. She said 22 people are registered for Saturday's gathering so far.
"It's really been a problem trying to get the information out to people who have registered and those who might want to walk in," said Karle-Nelson.
"The reason we invited Frank DeBernardo, is he just returned from Rome and the Synod on the family, and he was going to share his perspective and where do we go from here," said Karle-Nelson. "The pope has asked for reactions and to weigh in."

I'd be more concerned about the confusion DeBernardo will sow about what the Church teaches on human sexuality with regards to SSA than with confusion about a change in location. Where do we go from here? Look to the very good shepherd we have here in Detroit and follow through with the Church approved apostolates.

New Ways Ministry doesn't have any links to Courage and Encourage. I think we know why.

A final word on how groups like NWM use polls, and how media types tend to use that information, treating the Church as if it is a political class. Catholic understanding of Sacred Scripture is not based on opinion polls. Keep in mind, Jesus had a high unfavorable rating in the opinion poll that put him on the Cross (Mt 15:13-15). Opinion ≠ Truth. Here's a good summary from Cardinal Napier on Twitter.

Moral wrong, moral evil, moral falsehood & moral injustice have never had & can never have any moral rights whatsoever. Only good can!
— Cardinal Napier (@CardinalNapier) November 13, 2014

Pray for all involved.

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Friday, November 14, 2014

It is ordinary time, but a special day for Carmelites. Today is the feast of All Carmelite Saints for those within the order and I wish all of my fellow Carmelites a blessed feast day.

On the Church's feast of All Saints on November 1st, we remember most of all, those saints whom are not named. The Church elevates certain saints, giving them a place in liturgical celebrations, but there are many more who enter eternal life as saints whom we do not know of, from monks and religious in monasteries to ordinary homeless people we might have passed on the street every day.

Likewise, in the Carmelite order there are known saints with specified feast dates. But, there are also unknown saints - men and women who lived and died holy lives, but who have no place in the liturgical calendar. We remember them today and invoke their assistance in our pursuit of holiness. We can also remember the many saints who already are acknowledged in the liturgical calendar today.

Not having but a few minutes, I looked around the web for posts made by others and found a beautiful one written at the blog, Salve Sancte Mater Dei about Carmelite saints. It is from November 14 of 2012 and also covers the feast of All Carmelite Souls which is on November 15th, where we pray for all deceased Carmelites still in purgatory. Go read: For all the Saints, who from their labor rest: Two Carmelite feasts.

Even if you are not a Carmelite, please offer a prayer today for their assistance, and offer a prayer tomorrow for all Carmelites in purgatory.

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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Last night, channel flipping, I stumbled upon this stunning interview Anderson Cooper did with an escapee of a notorious labor camp in North Korea back in 2012. He was re-running it because of the recent news of two Americans recently freed from that country.

The interview took place in 2012, I believe and I found it on YouTube. I can't begin to fathom what this man went through, and what others are still going through. Imagine being born believing that the world around you in such a camp is all there is to life. Imagine a child who doesn't know what it means to be loved. There are people being born and raised in these camps for generations. You can see how easy that would happen in the situation he describes, and there are people still there.

Pray for him and for all who do not know liberty. Pray also for our veterans today for the freedom we enjoy.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Bishop Athanasius Schneider's patristics background shines in this latest interview which conveys his concerns over how the recent Synod went down, especially the interim report. Like his namesake, he doesn't leave room for moral gymnastics. Thanks to Polonia Christianawe have the interview in full translation from Polish. It was a long read, but worthy of reading in it's entirety. I'm sure some on the left will exploit what he says in a way that is out of context, so don't limit yourself to excerpts. People are quoting those parts that make good soundbites, but when those are not balanced with the other things he says, they only feed the machine that will be all too quick to burn him at the cyber-stake.

As an aside, I'm glad to see so many of my original photographs of Bishop Schneider floating around the web. I'm using several here from his visits to Detroit. The one at top, and those similar to it you will find, was taken at Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak when he spoke at the Call to Holiness Conference in 2009. Others were taken at Assumption Grotto in 2008.

Here is the first part, below this line.

The Church and the world do urgently need intrepid and candid witnesses of the whole truth of the commandment and of the will of God, of the whole truth of Christ’s words on marriage. Modern clerical Pharisees and Scribes, those bishops and cardinals who throw grains of incense to the neo-pagan idols of gender ideology and concubinage, will not convince anyone to either believe in Christ or to be ready to offer their lives for Christ - said + Athanasius Schneider Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan in interview with Izabella Parowicz.
Your Excellency, what is Your Excellency’s opinion about the Synod? What is its message to families?

During the Synod there had been moments of obvious manipulation on the part of some clerics who held key positions in the editorial and governing structure of the Synod. The interim report (Relatio post disceptationem) was clearly a prefabricated text with no reference to the actual statements of the Synod fathers. In the sections on homosexuality, sexuality and “divorced and remarried” with their admittance to the sacraments the text represents a radical neo-pagan ideology. This is the first time in Church history that such a heterodox text was actually published as a document of an official meeting of Catholic bishops under the guidance of a pope, even though the text only had a preliminary character. Thanks be to God and to the prayers of the faithful all over the world that a consistent number of Synod fathers resolutely rejected such an agenda; this agenda reflects the corrupt and pagan main stream morality of our time, which is being imposed globally by means of political pressure and through the almost all-powerful official mass media, which are loyal to the principles of the world gender ideology party. Such a synod document, even if only preliminary, is a real shame and an indication to the extent the spirit of the anti-Christian world has already penetrated such important levels of the life of the Church. This document will remain for the future generations and for the historians a black mark which has stained the honour of the Apostolic See. Fortunately the Message of the Synod Fathers is a real Catholic document which outlines the Divine truth on family without being silent about the deeper roots of the problems, i.e. about the reality of sin. It gives real courage and consolation to Catholic families. Some quotations: “We think of the burden imposed by life in the suffering that can arise with a child with special needs, with grave illness, in deterioration of old age, or in the death of a loved one. We admire the fidelity of so many families who endure these trials with courage, faith, and love. They see them not as a burden inflicted on them, but as something in which they themselves give, seeing the suffering Christ in the weakness of the flesh. … Conjugal love, which is unique and indissoluble, endures despite many difficulties. It is one of the most beautiful of all miracles and the most common. This love spreads through fertility and generativity, which involves not only the procreation of children but also the gift of divine life in baptism, their catechesis, and their education. … The presence of the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their modest home hovers over you”.

Those groups of people who had been expecting a change in the Church’s teaching with regard to the moral issues (e.g. allowing divorced and remarried people to receive Holy Communion or granting any form of approval for homosexual unions) were probably disappointed by the content of the final Relatio. Isn’t there, however, a danger that questioning and discussing issues that are fundamental for the Church’s teaching may itself open doors for serious abuses and for similar attempts to revise this teaching in the future?

In fact a Divine commandment, in our case the sixth commandment, the absolute indissolubility of the sacramental marriage, a Divinely established rule, means those in a state of grave sin cannot be admitted to Holy Communion. This is taught by Saint Paul in his letter inspired by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 11, 27-30, this cannot be put to the vote, just as the Divinity of Christ would never be put to a vote. A person who still has the indissoluble sacramental marriage bond and who in spite of this lives in a stable marital cohabitation with another person, by Divine law cannot be admitted to Holy Communion. To do so would be a public statement by the Church nefariously legitimizing a denial of the indissolubility of the Christian marriage and at the same time repealing the sixth commandment of God: “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. No human institution not even the Pope or an Ecumenical Council has the authority and the competency to invalidate even in the slightest or indirect manner one of the ten Divine commandments or the Divine words of Christ: “What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate (Math 19:6)”. Regardless of this lucid truth which was taught constantly and unchangingly - because unchangeable - through all the ages by the Magisterium of the Church up to our days as for instance in “Familiaris consortio” of Saint John Paul II, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and by Pope Benedict XVI, the issue of the admissibility to Holy Communion of the so called “divorced and remarried” has been put to the vote in the Synod. This fact is in itself grievous and represents an attitude of clerical arrogance towards the Divine truth of the Word of God. The attempt to put the Divine truth and the Divine Word to a vote is unworthy of those who as representatives of the Magisterium have to hand over zealously as good and faithful rules (cf. Math 24, 45) the Divine deposit. By admitting the “divorced and remarried” to Holy Communion those bishops establish a new tradition on their own volition and transgressing thereby the commandment of God, as Christ once rebuked the Pharisees and Scribes (cf. Math 15: 3). And what is still aggravating, is the fact that such bishops try to legitimize their infidelity to Christ’s word by means of arguments such as “pastoral need”, “mercy”, “openness to the Holy Spirit”. Moreover they have no fear and no scruples to pervert in a Gnostic manner the real meaning of these words labeling at the same time those who oppose them and defend the immutable Divine commandment and the true non-human tradition as rigid, scrupulous or traditionalist. During the great Arian crisis in the IV century the defenders of the Divinity of the Son of God were labeled “intransigent” and “traditionalist” as well. Saint Athanasius was even excommunicated by Pope Liberius and the Pope justified this with the argument that Athanasius was not in communion with the Oriental bishops who were mostly heretics or semi-heretics. Saint Basil the Great stated in that situation the following: “Only one sin is nowadays severely punished: the attentive observance of the traditions of our Fathers. For that reason the good ones are thrown out of their places and brought to the desert” (Ep. 243).

In fact the bishops who support Holy Communion for “divorced remarried” are the new Pharisees and Scribes because they neglect the commandment of God, contributing to the fact that out of the body and of the heart of the “divorced remarried” continue to “proceed adulteries” (Math 15: 19), because they want an exteriorly “clean” solution and to appear “clean” as well in the eyes of those who have power (the social media, public opinion). However when they eventually appear at the tribunal of Christ, they will surely hear to their dismay these words of Christ: “Why are you declaring my statutes and taking my covenant in your mouth? Seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you, … when you have been partaker with adulterers” (Ps 50 (49): 16-18).

The final Relatio of the Synod also unfortunately contains the paragraph with the vote on the issue of Holy Communion for “divorced remarried”. Even though it has not achieved the required two third of the votes, there remains nevertheless the worrying and astonishing fact that the absolute majority of the present bishops voted in favor of Holy Communion for the “divorced and remarried”, a sad reflection on the spiritual quality of the catholic episcopacy in our days. It is moreover sad, that this paragraph which hasn’t got the required approval of the qualitative majority, remains nevertheless in the final text of the Relatio and will be sent to all dioceses for further discussion. It will surely only increase the doctrinal confusion among the priests and the faithful, being in the air, that Divine commandments and Divine words of Christ and those of the apostle Paul are put at the disposal of human decision making groups. One Cardinal who openly and strongly supported the issue of Holy Communion for “divorced and remarried” and even the shameful statements on homosexual “couples” in the preliminary Relatio, was dissatisfied with the final Relatio, and declared impudently: “The glass is half-full”, and analogously he said that one has to work that next year at the Synod it will be full. We must believe firmly that God will dissipate the plans of dishonesty, infidelity and betrayal. Christ holds infallibly the rudder of the boat of His Church in midst of such a big storm. We believe and trust in the very ruler of the Church, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

This Friday, after the 7:30 a.m. TLM Mass, 40 Hours Devotion opens at Assumption Grotto. This devotion was popular in the pre-Vatican II days, with historical roots going back to the 1500's when it began in Milan. Older people tell me how it would roll to different parishes. Other priests and lay people would visit and especially participate in closing ceremonies.

Yes, the Lions are playing at 1:00. Record it if you can, or just skip one week and offer it up - a Catholic thing to do. Offer it up for the poor souls in Purgatory, as this is the month dedicated to praying for the dead. Offer it up for Christians suffering persecution across the world. Offer it up for mothers considering abortion. Offer it up for the conversion of sinners. Offer it up for family and friends who have fallen away from the Church, etc.)

Fr. Perrone discusses the schedule for this weekend…

Our parish Forty Hours Devotion opens this Friday. It begins with the opening Mass and procession of the Blessed Sacrament at 7:30 a.m. Exposition of the Sacrament takes place throughout the day until the 9:00 p.m. Benediction. On SaturdayNovember 8, there will be a side altar Mass at 7:30 a.m. and a Carmelite Third Order Communion Mass at 8:30 a.m. with Exposition on the main altar until 9:00 p.m. (Note that the Exposition is suspended during the 4:00 p.m. Mass). Next Sunday will have Exposition beginning at 6:00 a.m. (interrupted during the Sunday Masses, except for the solemn Mass at noon when Mass is celebrated in the presence of the exposed Sacrament). Our special homilist for this noon Mass will be Monsignor Robert McClory, the Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Detroit….The Procession and Litany of Saints follows and will conclude the ceremonies.

He went on to say he was counting on many people being there for this ceremonial closing. This is one Sunday out of the year where we have an opportunity to honor the Blessed Sacrament in a way that most do not. It is making a comeback though as I noted this past spring, and as reported for this weekend at Holy Innocence in Manhattan. For those wondering, the 9:30 a.m. Mass, which is the usual time slot for the Traditional Latin Mass will end up being a Latin Novus Ordo if it goes like past years. Many of the Liturgical things Fr. Perrone discusses either require the use of the 1962 Missal, or just are more fitting with it. The Knights of Columbus are holding a pancake breakfast that runs from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

For more info, see this article by Fr. William Saunders, 40 Hours with Jesus Christ, explaining the historical, spiritual, and biblical aspects of 40 Hours.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

As many of you have probably heard by now, Holy Innocence in Manhattan, New York, has been spared a painful closure. The parish is the only place in that area where people had daily access to the Traditional Latin Mass, more formally known as the Extraordinary Form. I think the uproar in the wake of an advisory might be useful to bishops. They need to treat parishes like Holy Innocence as one of the necessary components of any diversity plan. I don't know about that area of New York, but here in the Archdiocese of Detroit, there are some five SSPX chapels in Michigan with two that are under an hour from where I sit right now. This says nothing of other churches in the area like the Polish National Church, the Old Catholic Church, and some fully schismatic traditionalist places, one of which is just 15 minutes from my home. When a diocese creates a vacuum on the liturgically traditional end, some take refuge in those sources. Some want it to be made a personal parish for the usus antiquior, which would be fine, but I think it is better for a parish like that to continue offering both forms of the Mass. This makes it useful to the archdiocese in more than one way and can help with long term viability. But that's just my opinion.

This morning I read an interview at Aleteia with Fr. George Rutler, who was the pastor of Holy Innocence for many years and continues to be the administrator of that parish and another. For those who are familiar with Fr. Rutler, this is classic. For those who are not familiar with him, be prepared for frankness. Here is an excerpt (emphasis mine in bold).

Obviously, church/parish closings/mergers are not a new phenomenon, but in your view, what are some of the factors that lead to situations like this?

[Fr. Rutler] Among the factors is a decline in Catholic life. One statistic I was given recently is the Catholic population of New York City is just about the same as it was 70 years ago. There’s not a decline in Catholic population; there’s a decline in Catholic life, and there are all kinds of reasons for that.

I think there’s a great deal of dishonesty and denial on the part of some people who engaged in the fantasy that we were entering a new springtime of the faith. The aggiornamento of Vatican II was supposed to bring in tons more people; it did just the opposite. So long as people refuse to admit there were mistakes made a generation ago — in catechesis, liturgy, addressing the real problems of secularism — they’re never going to make any real reform.

Having grown up in the 60's and 70's, I agree entirely. From my youngest, most tender years, I interiorly lamented the way secularism encroached on the sacred. The devout life became a target of derision and today we see vice elevated as virtue, and virtue seen as, "vice;" the Blessed Virgin Mary was mocked (her purity clashed with the sexual revolution and a corrosive form of feminism); Eucharistic reverence was lost, presumably to not offend Protestants, etc., etc.,

We’ve also had a lot of white flight from the city out to the suburbs, and in the northern counties there is a need for new parishes. At the same time, down here, we do have…redundant parishes. Another reason for these closures is that the churches were organized very much for ethnic purposes rather than evangelical purposes. There was a cultural assumption that the Church was a home for immigrants, and that they would belong to parishes not just for the faith but also for, legitimately, social reasons, for community, schools and the like. So in Manhattan we have an old German parish, an Italian parish, [etc.], and they’re in close proximity with each other. And, and that’s no longer needed.

This is true too. We see parishes in Detroit that are mere blocks from one another and many were ethnic parishes. But, I'll bet they were all filled back in the day. Of course, it's not simply a loss of those ethnic peoples, now several generations in, fully entering the melting pot without attachment to personal parish based on ethnicity. I see these in my area where there is an abundance of first generation immigrants. So, this is just an unfortunate consequence of time and space.

The primary fact is that most Catholics aren’t practicing the faith. Mass attendance in New York is about 12%. You’ve had about a 50% drop since the Second Vatican Council. Nobody will address that. They’ll acknowledge the fact, but they will not address the fact that there were some serious mistakes made in the last generation.It would make a good study on why New York City, which is so culturally vibrant — sort of tormented and perverse in many ways, but vibran t— has such spiritual lethargy.

The other factor, of course, is the priest shortage. It’s a curiosity that here we are in New York City, the heart of the universe — I say that as a New Yorker — we have such a low number of priestly vocations. In my last parish, where I was for 12 years, I had nine fellows go on to the seminary. When asked "How is it done?" I tell them, and some don’t want to hear it. I think it’s significant now that more young men are going into religious orders rather than the diocesan priesthood. Of course they are distinct kinds of ministries but I think some of them go into religious orders who might have gone into the secular priesthood, because the local scene often seems banal. The religious orders often are more challenging.

Bingo. I'll take it a step further with an observation I've made over the past few years. That is, more vocations are clearly coming from parishes where there is strong Eucharistic and Marian devotion, and where frequent Sacramental Confession is encouraged and valued. The bottom line is that when you see priests emphasizing the pursuit of personal holiness through time-tested means which belong to the patrimony of the Church, you have vocations. Locally, I look at parishes like Ss Cyril & Methodius in Sterling Heights, Michigan with more seminarians, priests and religious than I can count. It has all of these elements. Assumption Grotto, which has fewer parishioners than Ss Cyril & Methodius, has a high percentage of parishioners who have entered priestly and religious life - men and women. In the Lansing diocese, Christ the King in Ann Arbor has numerous vocations. That has a large charismatic presence, but like with many such parishes, these days, you will find a great Eucharistic and Marian devotion, love of Sacramental Confession and pursuit of personal holiness. There are other parishes where not a single vocation has been seen over decades.

A number of people have called the priest shortage contrived because through the past several decades, young men who showed pious tendencies had their vocations thwarted by people in powerful places who exploited Vatican II for an agenda that was not in harmony with God's. There are still remnants of that, but nothing as bad as it was just a decade or two ago. Some dioceses are still living the full nightmare and are stuck in the 70's. I think this is also the case in Germany and Austria. We see the results there - a full blown exodus and secularization of baptized Catholics.

All around us we see people who, as children, went to Mass with families. Now, even if they go to Mass, their children have become "post-Catholic" and even "post-Christian."

Sunday, November 2, 2014

First, if you are looking for Assumption Grotto's All Souls schedule for Sunday and Monday (in the 1962 Missal, it is transferred to Monday), see my post from yesterday with some important notes about this complex arrangement. It also includes discussion of next week's 40 Hours Devotion and closing Mass, which will be at Noon.

The Archdiocese of Washington website has been down and Monsignor Charles Pope's great blogposts are not accessible there at this time. He has posted a couple to his parish blog. Here is a link to his homily for All Souls Day, "99 and-a-half won't do…"Monsignor Pope, I believe, is one of the best blogging clerics out there. His posts are filled with scriptural references and catechesis. Noteworthy is that he works hard to stay on the high road, delivering lessons for the day in a way that does not cut others down. It's obvious that he is fully aware of hot discussions on the web, by his choice of topics at time. He celebrates both forms of the Mass and his thoughts on liturgy are wholesome. I recommend checking his blog daily, which is normally at blog.adw.org. Eventually, that site will come back, hopefully, with all of his historical content. One day, I'll have to raid his "Pastor's Corner" page where he has more goodies.

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TheDignitatis Humanae Institutehas released full text of whatCardinal Burke really said about Pope Francis after a misleading headline and some unfortunate splicing of sentences by Buzzfeed that made it appear he was slamming the Holy Father.

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I am no longer a fan of the Rorate Caeli blog as I once was because of how polemical it has turned since Pope Francis was elected (some traditionalist friends have likewise defected from regularly following the site with one referring to it as, "Rorate Rudos". Some bitter traditionalists have referred to me as a "neo-con" or "neo-trad." Whatever. I have no objections to respectful critique of the Holy Father's words, actions, or prudential judgments, but conclusions are sometimes drawn there when there is one piece of information and an absence of a lot of other information required for more authentic conclusion.

It's not the only online source that does that, but since I am going to link to something there, I want to state that caveat. Consuming commentaries daily at a site like Rorate Caeli can lead to outrage addiction. This does not mean there are not some excellent pieces there, but people need to have good tools for discernment over how things are interpreted there and err on the side of caution with regards to any judgments about members of the hierarchy. Our salvation is not dependent on being angry over what any member of the hierarchy is saying or doing; rather it is dependent on what we do daily in showing love for God and neighbor. If you go to Assumption Grotto, ask a priest about a particular situation that might cause you concern. They are often very aware of what is going on and will give you good counsel to follow.

So, the piece I am linking to at Rorate Caeli is the full text of Cardinal Pell's homily at a Traditional Latin Mass in Rome for Juventutem following the recent Synod. His Eminence was ill with mild bronchitis at the time so he had someone read the prepared homily. In it, he discusses the Petrine Ministry. I think Cardinal Pell's words stand on their own without commentary.

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Catholic World Report is one of many sources that has had some very good coverage of the Synod. The Relatio Synodi is finally available in official English translation. See their report here, with link to original.

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There are two posts out there, among others, that take on the media for their spin on what Pope Francis said about evolution. One is by Elizabeth Diaz appearing in a Time Magazine blog referring to media coverage of the subject as "Papal Bull."

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Fr. Perrone details the schedule for today's All Saints Masses in the Grotto News which just came online yesterday. As he points out in his column, November is a very rich liturgical period. He explains the intricacies of the schedule given that All Souls falls on Sunday this year, coupled with the fact that the parish offers both forms of the Mass and the calendars vary slightly.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron

St. John of the Cross

Dark Night of the Soul (2.2:3)...

"...the devil causes many to believe in vain visionsand false prophecies; and strives to make them presumethat God and the saints are speaking with them; and they often trust their own fancy. And the devil is also accustomed, in this state, to fill them with presumption and pride, so that they become attracted by vanity and arrogance, and allow themselves to be seen engaging in outward acts which appear holy, such as raptures and other manifestations. Thus they become bold with God, and lose holy fear, which is the key and the custodian of all the virtues; and in some of these souls so many are the falsehoods and deceits which tend to multiply, and so inveterate do they grow, that it is very doubtful if such souls will return to the pure road of virtue and true spirituality."